SUNDAY WAS THE FIRST TIME I MISSED A POST IN A YEAR & A HALF

TWO LONE FISHERMEN ON THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON SUNDAY

I came away with a feeling of disappointment after reading a friend's blog Sunday morning & that kind of set the tone for my day.  It would be a full 24 hours before I sat down at the computer again.  A work related schmozzle later in the morning didn't help my frame of mind any & I had to finally throw my old sack of bones in the Jeep & take them for a long drive along some quiet country roads.  Every once & awhile I just have to get away from things so I generally grab my cameras & some favorite music CD's & away I go for a few hours.  It is a good way for me to mull things over in my mind, make some decisions, see some different scenery & just generally get myself back on track with myself.  I once again questioned this whole blogging thing & by the time I got home in the late afternoon I just didn't have the mental energy to put a blog together.  It was the first day I have missed writing a blog for about a year & a half.   I like writing & I like the photography end of things, so with a few necessary changes, a short one day blogging break & a self motivated pep talk I am again back at the keyboard:))

 

SUNDAY FELT LIKE A 4 BUZZARD DAY

We are into our second day of exceptionally warm weather.  Mid 60's yesterday & today coupled with a healthy splash of sunshine  this afternoon.  In fact it was so nice it actually spurred us on to make a last minute renovation to the rig's interior.  Some of you may remember a couple years ago in Quartzsite when we took out all the cheaply made & hugely uncomfortable furniture in our rig.  Sold the dinette, tub chair & couch at a business called, The Gambler.  A few days later we headed east & purchased all new stuff at the Ikea store in Tempe/Phoenix, AZ.  You can see our shopping spree here....IKEA 

NEAR THE BENMILLER INN.....BENMILLER, ONTARIO

But, going back to Quartzsite for a minute.....we were looking for a computer desk & Kelly found a used one that had come out of a Tiffin Motor Home at the Le Mesa RV dealer.  I think we paid $40 for it.  It was made of oak with a marble like top & of course was very heavy.  It was a solid good quality desk but it was actually too big for our rig.  We liked it anyway & that's what we have been using the past couple years.  Last winter we finally accepted the fact it was maybe not the best desk for our particular set-up so this morning, that desk came back out of the Motor Home!!

 

We had a much smaller el-cheapo wooden student's desk in the carport but when we put it in the rig we realized it was much too high for a laptop computer.  Kelly set off for Goderich to see what Zeller's & Wal-Mart had in the way of desks but came back saying all the computer desks were too long for our short space.  We have now opted to have handyman Bruce build us a nice shelf type of thing for the laptop & he's going to do that this week-end.

I again recognized our latest blog supporter, cowboy hat & all.  That's Froggi Donna from 2 TAKING A FIFTH.  I first met Froggi D here on my blog about 3 years ago.  I had written a post about a bunch of vehicles I had owned over the years & a comment came in from a 'Froggi' person saying they once had the same type of vehicle as one of the one's I had.  Well, with a cute name like that we had to email her back of course.  Froggi D was traveling solo in those days & Kelly actually met her in Ajo Arizona one day when the Froggi gal was filling up some propane tanks.  Kelly recognized her rig from the pictures on her site.  She & Stu were two of the people who came out to our boondocking spot last winter in the Kofa Mountains.  I've always had one regret though since that day.  We never really did get to know anyone really well that were there & I remember thinking that as I watched Froggi D & Stu pull out on their motorcycles heading back to Yuma.  Yes, we had met them alright, but we really didn't get a chance to talk to them much.  Maybe next time we can make it 2 on 2 & do that "Howdy Neighbor" thingy all over again,  Thanks for your blog support guys:))

PORT ALBERT, ONTARIO.....

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A big earthquake with the strength of 8.1 on the Richter scale hits Mexico.  Two million Mexicans have died and over a million are injured. The country is totally ruined and the government doesn't know where to start and is asking for help to rebuild. The rest of the world is in shock.
Canada is sending troops to help the Mexican army control the riots.  Saudi Arabia is sending oil.  Other Latin American countries are sending supplies.  The European community (except France) is sending food and money.  The United States, not to be outdone, is sending two million Mexicans to replace all the people lost in the earthquake.
God bless America!!!!

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LUNCH WITH PETER & PATTY FROM RAINBOW ACRES

THE OLD YUMA ROAD LOOKING NORTH….Back in the 1800’s this would have been a horse path with probable wagon wheel ruts marking an old dusty trail from Yuma heading north to other dusty little western towns.  We are parked just a few hundred feet from the road & at night we can hear the creaking of old ghostly wagon trains on the trail heading for the gold fields in California & Arizona.   We can hear the galloping of horses & the plodding of mules mixed with the shouts of trail bosses, the grumbling of wagoneers, & the bumpy chatter of children in wagons.

                               

FELLOW BOONDOCKERS WELL SPACED OUT IN THE DESERT

If Max hadn't woke me up at 2 a.m I wouldn't have been up & on the computer until 5 in the morning before going back to bed again & re-getting up at 7:30.  Not exactly my idea of a good night's sleep but at least I was able to get some long overdue things caught up in my Picasa photo editing program.

                            

Sunny morning with a warming breeze as we watched 3 more rigs pull  out around 10.  The desert is really opening up.  Bit of a clean up in the motorhome, read some blogs, soaked up a bit of sun, & just basically loafed around until noon. 

THAT IS RAINBOW ACRES IN THE BACKGROUND ABOUT 3 MILES AWAY BUT THE TELEPHOTO LENS PIC MAKES IT APPEAR CLOSER

Last year while parked here in this same spot a couple fellows rode in out of the desert one morning on their ATV's.  Figured they were going to take issue of the way I was flying our flags, but no, turns out one of the fellas was a blog follower.  From my description of where we were he knew where to find us.  That is how we met Pete & his neighbor Ed.  Tuesday when we returned from downtown Quartzite there was a note stuck in our door from Peter & his wife Patty saying they had dropped by to say hello.  Guess Pete’s still following the Bayfield Bunch.  Peter & Patty live about 3 miles north of our location.

A few emails whizzed back & forth & we agreed to do lunch today so P & P picked us up at noon & we all headed into Quartzite for lunch at the same place we were the day before...Bad Boy.

                            

PETER IN THE RED T-SHIRT SLIPS AROUND THE TABLES WHILE PATTY & KELLY CHECK OUT THE MENU

Like all RV couples we have met, Peter & Patty are a charming couple with a lot of RV miles under their belts over the years & from talking to them I can tell we share a lot of the same interests regarding RVing & people in general.  Peter is the laid back one of the two & Patty shares my impatience with computers. 

                                

KELLY TAKES A DEERPARK LODGE CALL JUST BEFORE THE FOOD ARRIVES  (click on pics to enlarge)

Had a nice lunch on Bad Boy's shaded patio.  P & P  have a winter place located in Rainbow Acres just a few miles southwest of Quartzite.  We can actually see the development where they live across the desert to the north of us.  They have their 38' Safari Class A motorhome parked on a lot for the winter months & travel up into Washington State during the summer volunteering as camp hosts, etc, at various parks.  They will return again this summer to Jarrell Cove State Marine Park in Glacier National Park.

A 700mm TELEPHOTO SHOT OF RAINBOW ACRES.  THE SMALL WHITE RETANGLE LEFT OF CENTER IN THE MOUNTAIN IS AN 18 WHEELER ON I-10 HEADING WEST INTO CALIFORNIA.

Just a few days after Peter & Ed dropped in that morning last year another fellow blogger tracked us down & we got to meet John from JOHN & BRENDA'S INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE.  Another one of those good RV people:))

                                

ED & PETE IN JANUARY 09                                      JOHN IN JANUARY 09

Our last closest neighbor left this afternoon around 3 so the nearest rig to us now is about a quarter to half a mile away.  Nice respectable buffer zone I'd say.  Sure is nice to look out & not see any rigs on 3 of our 4 sides.  Maybe we'll stay here until April now.  Ok, ok, just kidding.  Our next stop will probably be Borrego Springs in California soon.  For sure there will be lots of room over there in the wide open desert as well.

A VERY RELAXING DAY:))

Tomorrow we may head south down the highway a bit with the car then head east on Palm Canyon Road to see what we can see.  We hear it's a nice scenic drive back up there in the Kofa mountains.  Saturday we might have a look around the Bouse area & Sunday we just might boogie west for Borrego:))  Of course all those things hinge on the word...........'might:))'  No rules, no regulations, no problem!!

OLD YUMA ROAD LOOKING SOUTH TOWARDS YUMA MANY MILES AWAY

GROANER'S CORNER:((  While making rounds, a doctor points out an X-ray to a group of medical students.'As you can see,' she says, 'the patient limps because his left fibula and tibia are radically arched. Morris, what would you do in a case like this?''Well,' ponders the student, 'I suppose I'd limp too.'

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

QUARTZITE ARIZONA……..WE’RE BACK!!

Awake & up at 4 a.m.  again so it has turned out to be another long & kinda grumpy day.  Despite the traffic noise from nearby I-8 during the night I had slept fine until Max let me know he wanted out.  Unlike the ranch, there is no secure coyote proof fencing here so when it's dark outside & one of the guys have to go out, I go out with them.  It was an RV Park just a few miles east of where we were that I saw 2 coyotes cruise past the rig early one morning a couple of years ago.  Had litte Motormouse been outside  by herself they would have got her.  One has to be soooooo careful out here about that sort of thing.

PHOTO BY KELLY

First order of day before heading out was to fix an annoying problem that had totally bugged us Sunday all the way from the ranch to the campground west of Casa Grande.  Awhile back Kelly had picked up a couple deer whistle alert things that people put on the bumpers of their cars to supposedly alert deer with it's high frequency.  Last week I decided to put these 2 things on the motorhome but of course we don't have a bumper or flat level spot on the front of the rig.  Had me a look around & decided to put them near the side view mirror arms where they joined the coach.  Minutes after leaving the ranch Sunday morning I heard a whistling sound & immediately thought it was coming from the engine compartment.  Didn't take me long to imagine all kinds of worse case scenarios so when I reached a stop sign I put the transmission in neutral & revved the engine expecting the whistle to increase with the engine revs.  But, there wasn't even a whistling sound until after I had started down the road again.  Most annoying.  And then it dawned on me.....it was the deer alert whistles sitting near the mirror arms close to the open windows.  I knew that the sticky stuff they were attached with was a 'forever' thing so figured when we reached our destination later in the day I would have to dynamite them off.  Well, here's what I didn't know!!  Kelly found that the whistles simply pivoted in their base & they could be effortlessly turned around out of the wind.  Time taken for Kelly to reposition the two alert whistles.....30 seconds.  Time taken for those whistles to totally drive us nuts all the way from the ranch to the campground..... 5 & a half hours!!!!

High cloud cover with a haze in the air made for a lackluster morning drive west to Gila Bend.  The normally beautiful mountains were distant frumpy looking hulks lacking their usual picturesque detail.  At times the haze took on a brown hue suggesting big city pollution but there are no big cities around here.  Phoenix was too far behind us to affect the weather way out here.  No wind to carry any pollution either so don't know where it came from.  Their is a nuclear power plant near Tonopah but the only thing I saw coming out of it's stacks was what appeared to be clouds of white steam.

                            

KELLY’S BUSY WORKING AT HER DEERPARK LODGE JOB FAR FROM HOME

Stopped at a Shell station on the north side of Gila Bend for propane, water, & a 6" tuna sub from Subway.  There are 2 Shell stations in Gila Bend & both of them are well known to RV'ers for their water, dump stations, gas, diesel, propane, & eats, etc.  Yep, there's a McDonalds in town too.  Both Shell stations have big paved parking lots for large rigs now & there are RV Parks close at hand.  Gila Bend is like an oasis for travelers on their long journeys to & from the west coast & points east like Phoenix, Tucson, Memphis, & New York city, etc.  A very popular & convenient stop for RV folks.

Decided on the Buckeye route so headed north from Gila Bend on highway 85 up to I-10 & made a left for Quartzite.  The cloud cover thickened & almost threatened rain a few times making it kind of a gloomy day.  However, we were heartened by the traffic heading east over on the other side of the median because it seemed like about 4 of every 10 vehicles going by were RV's.  That brightened our day immensely because we knew they were all pouring out of Quartzite.  And the more rigs leaving the Q meant more room for us when we got there.  D'ya think word got around that the Bayfield Bunch was headed for town!!  Having been in Quartzite the past 3 years in a row we knew only too well what awaited us there but this year we were going in after the big 'dust up in the desert' & were hoping for much quieter times.  When we came over the ridge east of the Q & looked ahead out over the valley we knew we were right.  Instead of a massive sea of white dots we could immediately see there was more Mother Earth visible than white dots. 

CASTLE DOME MOUNTAINS

Took the first exit into Q & rolled downtown to quiet streets with little traffic & no congestion.  What a pleasant treat that was for us.  Left at the main intersection & headed south on 95 for about 5 miles to a familiar road, turned right & turned right again into the hard packed shale like stone desert.  How nice to see only a couple dozen rigs scattered about over a large area compared to the hundreds & hundreds & hundreds that are usually jammed in here.  Headed for the farthest corner of the area about a mile in & coincidentally found the exact same spot we were in last year while here.  Nearest rig is about a quarter mile away so I think maybe we'll be able to handle that.  Anything closer than that is absolutely not acceptable!!!!

 

OUR SITE FOR A FEW DAYS SOUTH OF QUARTZITE

On the afternoon of February 4th, 2009 while boondocked near Sierra Vista Arizona I climbed up on the rig's roof & put the solar panels down before our departure the following morning to our new ranch sitting job near McNeal Arizona.  Little did I know that it would be nearly one year to the day before I would be back up on that roof putting those solar panels up again.  And today was that day.  After setting up the Star Choice dish & setting out some tables & chairs I scooted up the ladder (ok, so I hauled myself up the ladder) took a few pics, & then set about putting the two panels up, which reminds me I have an email to send to someone who had inquired about our solar installation.

                                 

PANELS DOWN FEB 4/09                                      PANELS UP FEB 1/10

Been awhile since we've had our full blown boondocking heads on so we are slowly transitioning once again from shore based electricity & water to what is called, 'dry camping.'  Water conservation now becomes more important as does the use of lights etc.  Although with our solar set-up we see little difference from plugged in electricity to solar produced electric.  We do everything pretty much the same except we run the generator for a few minutes in the morning while the coffee perks.  Helps give the 4 solar batteries a little boost after the sunless night.

                                   

NEAREST NEIGHBORS                                        PANELS UP                                

Had a bit  of a'dust up' with our Star Choice reception today which took the better part of 2 hours to resolve including a phone call to Star Choice.  Not their fault but we do suspect either a faulty cable or television.  Of course I was ready to junk the whole system & throw it out the door but Kelly stuck with it & all of a sudden for some unknown reason the signal appeared & we were tuned in.  Very, very, close call though because there could have been injuries if that signal had not come in when it did.  Kelly very narrowly missed her Oprah show & I later realized that was the inspiration for her dogged determination in sticking with the problem.

THE CASTLE DOMES

GROANER'S CORNER:((  It used to be only death and taxes .  Now, of course, there's shipping and handling, too.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

2008-SOLD OUR RIG’S FURNITURE & HEADED FOR THE IKEA STORE

CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE & HOVER YOUR MOUSE OVER THEM FOR THE CAPTIONS

By January of 2008 our minds were finally made up.  We were totally fed up with the cheap uncomfortable furniture in our motorhome.  The tub chair was too small & had a comfort level of about 20 seconds.  Couch was the same & the pull out bed must have been made in a hot place somewhere underground.  The cushions for the dinette were obviously designed by a worker who attended Weight Watchers because you couldn't comfortably sit on the them long enough to finish you supper, let along dessert!!

But, here we were boondocking out in the desert & how could we get rid of & replace this stuff.

WE HAVE SINCE ADDED AN AMERICAN FLAG OVER TOP THE CANADIAN FLAG….PROTOCOL:))

Getting rid of the stuff turned out to be easier than we thought because we were in Quartzite, Arizona & it was January!!  Quartzite in January is the buy, sell, & trade Mecca for RV'ers all across America.  It didn't take Kelly long to get into town & do some wheelin & dealin & before we knew it I had my screwdriver out taking our dinette apart……because she had sold everything!!  When your not using power tools it seems the number of screws to be removed triples & by the time I had the million plus screws out of that thing I practically had to let my sore wrist soak in a pale of hot flaming water for the whole rest of the day.

As I'm typing this I seem to recall blogging about this Quartzite furniture story before.  (my apologies if I did) I took apart the dinette & we piled it outside.  Next came the tub chair which was securely bolted to the floor.  Had to get under the motorhome to loosen the bolts with nothing more than a pair of vice grips but finally it was done & out went the chair!! 

Took Kelly a couple trips into Quartzite to 'The Gamblers' new & used trading post where she had struck up a deal to sell our motorhome furniture.  We were able to get the  dis-assembled dinette & tub chair into the Santa Fe alright but the couch was another matter so decided to leave that until we left the Q (Quartzite) a few days later.  I wasn't looking forward to having to try & get that couch out by myself so on our way through town later we stopped at the Gambler's & the boys there came out & hauled the couch out of the rig.  Kelly told people inside the Gambler's new & used store that we were selling our furniture for gas money to get back to Canada.  I had to pull my hat down even further over my face to conceal my embarrassment!! 

Within half an hour we had left Quartzite in the dust & were heading furnitureless for an RV Park in Casa Grande that we had stayed the year before for a couple days.  Sure seemed weird not having any furniture in the rig & the furry guys were in bewilderment as to where they were all going to sleep that night....as was I.  Stopped at an RV Park in Tonopah on the way that night & it was so cold our water froze up outside & an alarm went off warning us of a propane leak.  Turns out there was no leak but the cold had somehow set off that alarm or something.  Had to wait until around 10 in the morning before we could get our hose unthawed from the outside water tap & head off to  Casa Grande.

Arrived in Casa Grande OK & readied ourselves for our shopping sojourn the next day.  Kelly, being the experienced shopper she is, had been in Ikea stores before over the years.  Me, not being a shopper, had no more interest in getting dragged through another dumb store than I had of trying on dresses at a Seven Eleven convenience store so it was with much grumpiness on my part that we headed off in the car towards Phoenix early the next morning.

It was the size of the parking lot that first caught my attention as we approached Ikea.  Looked like enough room to land a Jumbo Jet if it wasn't for all the stately palm trees.  After grubbing it in the desert for the past few weeks I thought we had entered the twilight zone.  The store front was very big & impressive as we walked across the manicured & well landscaped parking lot to the front entrance.  Best part so far was the total lack of cars & people because we were actually there before the store was even open.   Hmmmmm, this was turning out unusually good for me & I was impressed.  Front door was open & Kelly explained Ikea has their own restaurant that actually opens before the store did.  Wow, I could feel some excitement coming to-gether already.  But wait, how could it be possible for Al to feel a twinge of excitement about.......shopping!!  Well, I was about to find out.

 As soon as we walked through Ikea's front door I knew there was something different going on here about this store.  Our blog for that day is HERE & the photos of our Ikea store experience are HERE.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

And here’s the best part.  Sold the RV furniture for $450 & our total Ikea bill was…..$400 so we came out of the whole deal $50 up.  That Kelly is quite a wheeler dealer:))

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

THE DAY I MOOSE SALUTED THE OLD NORTH WIND!!

A LITTLE FRIEND ALONG THE MORNING TRAIL

It was RICK'S spaghetti sauce that saved the day for me this afternoon. Kelly had sent an email last night telling me to take a plastic container out of the freezer to-day around noon because that was going to be our supper to-night. It was around 2 P.M. that I sat down at the computer to catch up on a few blogs. As I was reading Rick's blog about fixing & mixing spaghetti sauce I had this uncomfortable feeling there was something I was supposed to remember that had to do with food. Oh no!! Kelly could be home any minute & that plastic container was still in the freezer!! I zipped out to the kitchen, filled the sink with super hot water & plopped the frozen container in there. Checked it about 20 minutes later & it was still frozen solid. Oh no, what to do!! Noticed the micro-wave had a defrost setting so I had to hurriedly get creative with a bunch of microwave numbers & about half an hour later I saw some good serious soggy signs in the container of veggies. Put the container back in the hot water & left it there until Kelly rolled in the driveway about an hour later. Quickly drained the water & set the container on the counter..........no problem & supper went off without a hitch:)) Thanks oh great spaghetti master!! HERE'S AN INTERESTING LITTLE FELLOW IN THE FLOWER GARDEN

Had a question about the black thing sticking up on top of my telescope lens. That large black lens I've been using with my camera is first & foremost an astronomy telescope. That device on the telescope contains a small battery which projects a small laser like red dot onto the center of that rectangular glass portion. When looking for objects in the dark night sky it can be difficult to find a specific area. By looking through that finder device you just align that red dot with whatever your looking for in the night sky & that automatically aligns your lens with the object making it easier to locate things. If it wasn't for all the tall pine trees surrounding us I would be making a lot more use of this telescope at night......but:(( I ADDED THE LITTLE RED DOT IN PAINT SHOP BUT THAT IS WHAT YOU BASICALLY SEE AT NIGHT

The American southwest is notorious for it's big winds & we have sure found that out first hand over these past few years. We were boondocking in the desert about 6 miles south of Quartzite, Arizona back in January of 2008 with continous winds sweeping in from the north each night. It was really reeking havoc on our sleeping & making me extra irritible.....if that's possible!! I blogged about that big wind & my coyote theory the following night & mentioned that in the morning I had gone outside & totally 'Moose Saluted' that old north wind just to let him know what I thought of his nightly antics. Wasn't long & I had some emails asking what a moose salute was so rather than trying to explain it I took a picture of myself demonstrating the moose salute & put it in next days blog. Here is that blog about the wind and...............the Moose Salute!!

From January 14th, 2008
The big wind gusts finally let up last night around 9:30 only to return around midnight with reinforcements. I don't know if that is what woke me up or if it was our border collie Checkers growling like crazy. Next thing I heard were the coyotes & it sounded like there was a herd of them right outside the door somewhere having some kind of a convention. Yips, hoots, yelps, whines, cries, & barks.......they had it all. I think there is probably an old Indian legend around somewhere that says it is the panting breaths of many howling coyotes that cause the mighty winds to come sweeping across the sleeping desert floor in the dead of night.
When I first went outside this morning I noticed the wind had finally abated so without further ado I proceeded to put our awning down & clipped on the camouflage netting. Then, just to be a smart ass I poked my head around the end of the coach, stuck my thumbs in my ears & gave that big old north wind a good old fashioned Canadian Moose salute. Well, you know what happened!! Within half an hour I was scrambling like nuts to get the awning retracted & ended up chasing our Canadian flag across the desert floor after having it being blown right off the flag pole. That wily old wind had returned my Moose Salute with a vengence & he's been chasing my butt all over the southwest ever since........!!

GOOD OLD CANADIAN MOOSE SALUTE

GROANER'S CORNER:(( It's not how you win or lose, it's how you place the blame!!

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.